AmMay,ri884arm'}        Composition  of  Oil  of  Gaultheria.  267 
fectly  clear  and  transparent,  and  the  alcohol,  which  was  obtained  by 
repeated  distillation  of  the  liquid  from  a  water  bath,  collecting  only 
the  lighter  portions  which  passed  over  first,  and  farther  rectifying 
these  by  distilling  from  caustic  lime,  possessed  the  same  odor,  and  was 
of  the  same  specific  gravity  and  boiling  point  as  methyl  alcohol. 
The  salicylic  acid  was  obtained  by  making  an  aqueous  solution  of 
the  salicylate  of  potassium,  which  remained  in  the  flask  after  the  first 
distillation,  and  decomposing  this  by  the  addition  of  a  slight  excess 
of  hydrochloric  acid,  the  chloride  of  potassium  formed  remaining  in 
solution,  while  the  salicylic  acid  formed  as  a  dense  white  precipitate 
which,  after  washing  with  water  and  drying,  was  obtained  pure  by 
crystallizing  from  hot  petroleum  benzin.  ( 
Both  specimens  of  oil  examined  yielded  about  the  same  amount  of 
terpene,  but  as  a  portion  of  one  of  them  was  accidentally  lost,  no 
attempt  was  made  to  weigh  the  small  amount  remaining. 
These  results  show  that  oil  of  gaultheria  sp.  gr.  147  does  not  con- 
tain 10  per  cent,  of  a  terpene ;  for,  if  it  did,  the  specific  gravity  of  the 
oil  would  necessarily  be  very  much  lower  than  that  of  the  oil  of  birch, 
in  which  the  absence  of  a  terpene  has  been  conclusively  proved. 
Whether  the  oil  of  gaultheria  which  has  been  distilled  in  the  spring 
or  summer  contains  more  of  the  terpene  than  that  distilled  in  the  fall, 
is  not  known ;  but  from  results  obtained  by  experiments  made  upon  a 
specimen  which  was  distilled  in  the  spring,  it  seems  that  there  is  a 
difference,  as  this  oil  was  found  to  have  a  specific  gravity  of  but  1*0318, 
and  the  absence  of  alcohol  was  shown  upon  application  of  several  of 
the  tests  for  that  substance. 
After  referring  to  Mr.  Kennedy's  paper  read  before  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association  (see  "Arner.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1883,  p.  533; 
also  1883,  p.  85),  the  writer  continues  :  According  to  information 
upon  this  subject,  obtained  from  a  distiller  of  oil  of  gaultheria,  the  oil, 
which  is  seen  floating  in  small  globules  upon  the  water  will,  if  allowed 
to  stand  24  hours,  all  collect  together  into  large  drops,  and  settle  to 
the  bottom  of  the  containing  vessel.  This  alone  shows  that  this  oil 
cannot  consist  of  a  hydrocarbon,  but  to  decide  the  question  conclusively, 
a  small  amount  of  water,  which  was  taken  from  the  receiver  just  as  it 
came  over  from  the  still,  was  agitated  with  several  successive  portions 
of  ether,  the  etherial  solutions  being  carefully  separated  from  the  water, 
were  evaporated,  whereby  only  a  very  small  amount  of  oil  was  ob- 
tained, which  did  not  possess  any  odor  of  the  terpene,  and  which  con- 
